Newsletter No. 448

6 448 • 4.12.2014 工程學院一年級生黃君恆，於10月舉行的仁川2014亞洲殘疾人運動會，與隊友奪得 硬地滾球混合BC4雙人賽的金牌。 黃君恆患先天脊髓肌肉萎縮症，自幼以輪椅代步。他首次代表香港在亞殘運會出 賽，在隊中擔任後備。面對世界各地的強手，在個人賽中，他亦獲得第五名的佳績。 黃君恆現時一邊繼續練習硬地滾球，一邊攻讀計算機科學及工程學課程，希望畢業 後從事電腦程式工作。 Wong Kwan-hang, Year 1 engineering student, and his teammates won a gold medal in the Boccia Mixed Pairs BC4 event of the Incheon 2014 Asian Para Games. Wong suffers from spinal muscular atrophy that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness, which has confined him to the wheelchair since childhood. It was the first time he served as back up, and ranked fifth in the individual game representing Hong Kong against different countries. He keeps maintaining regular Boccia exercise, and hopes to pursue his career in computer science and engineering after graduation. 工程生於亞洲殘疾人運動會奪金 Engineering Student Wins Gold in Incheon Asian Para Games 中大生勇奪國際遺傳工程設計賽金獎 CUHK Genetic Engineering Team Wins Gold 由理學院及工程學院十位本科生組成的基因工程隊伍遠赴美國波士頓，參加10月30日 至11月3日的國際遺傳工程機器設計競賽，與全球二百四十三支大學隊伍近三千人角逐， 脫穎而出，成為金獎得主之一。 中大隊以「固氮菌集束轉型蛋白缺氧表達系統」為題參賽。棕色固氮菌是一種大量存於 自然界的細菌，中大隊成功改變其基因，繼而建構了細胞內缺氧下表達蛋白質生產的系 統。經基因改變後的細菌如加入改造過的固氮酶及氫酶，細菌會將二氧化碳轉換成甲烷 及其他碳化合物，在土壤及污水等有氧環境中分解有害物質。轉換過程中產生的甲烷氣 體更是一種可再生生物燃料。 長遠來說，此生物合成系統可減少二氧化碳，有助改善環境。此外，在基因改造的細菌中 加入不同的酶會產生不同的反應，可應用於製造生物電池及納米磁鐵等。 A genetic engineering team formed by 10 CUHK undergraduate students of science and engineering participated in the international Genetic Engineered Machine (iGEM) 2014 Giant Jamboree held in Boston from 30 October to 3 November. They competed with 243 teams with close to 3,000 students and walked away with a gold medal. The winning project of the CUHK team was named ABCDE (AzotoBacter vinelandii Cluster-transformable & Deoxygenated protein Expression system). Azotobacter vinelandii is a bacterium that naturally exists in soil. By mutating its gene, the CUHK team developed an intracellular anaerobic protein expression system, in which different oxygen sensitive proteins or enzymes are able to function. By adding remodelled nitrogenase and hydrogenase, the bacteria can covert carbon dioxide into methane and other carbon compounds in a natural aerobic environment. Methane can be used as a biofuel, thus the conversion may help to solve both environmental and energy problems. By adding different enzymes, the protein expression system has many other potential applications, such as manufacturing a biobattery or a nanomagnet. 窺探建築的堂奧 The Art of Architecture 台灣著名建築師姚仁喜應博群大 講堂之邀，在11月7日演講，題為 「結廬在人境」。 姚仁喜首先闡述自己的建築理念， 他說：「在建築上我很喜歡兩個 字，就是『堂』跟『奧』。」堂是指 你打開建築物的一扇門所看到的 空間，而所有在背後隱秘處你看不 見的，就叫奧。所以堂是直接、明 顯、甚至是有形的，而奧是隱晦、 想像的。他認為堂跟奧並非相反 詞，而是像陰陽一樣，要放在一起 才代表出整體。接着他就以自己的 一些建築作品為例，講述這兩個 面相怎樣影響和啟發他的創作。 法鼓山農禪寺水月道場是他介紹 的幾個建築之一，他回憶當初， 聖嚴法師只給了他「最簡短的建築 任務書」─「水中月，空中花」。最 後，他利用水、風、光、影等無形元 素來表現這六個字的意象。 在答問環節，姚仁喜借用禪宗的一句話來勉勵建築學生：「在初學者的心裏有許多可能，在專 家心裏甚麼事情都不可能。」他說：「我們走在人生的路上常常有很多冷水，會澆熄我們當初 的熱情。」所以也叫學生要保持着現在那種熱情。 Mr. Kris Yao, a renowned Taiwanese architect, delivered a lecture on campus on 7 November as the speaker of the University Lecture on Civility. Mr. Yao began his lecture by introducing the audience to his ideas of architecture. He said, ‘I’d like to use two Chinese words to encapsulate my ideas of architecture. One is ‘tang’ (hall) and the other is ‘ao’ (obscurity). According to him, what you see when you open a door of a building is ‘tang’; what you don’t see in obscurity is ‘ao’. ‘Tang’ is something direct, visible and formal, while ‘ao’ is something obscure, imaginary. But he said that they are not opposing ideas. Rather, they are complementary like Yin and Yang . When put together, they represent a whole. Then he used some of his architectural projects to illustrate how these two ideas had informed and inspired his creation. The Water-Moon Dharma Centre at the Dharma Drum Mountain Nung Chan Monastery was another project that Kris Yao talked about in his lecture. The architect recalled that when he asked Master Sheng Yen about his idea of the building. The monk replied: ‘the moon on the water, flowers in the sky.’ Yao said, ‘This was the briefest building instructions I’ve ever been given.’ To express this concept, the architect used intangible elements like water, wind, light and shadow. In the Q&A session, Yao used a quote from a Zen master to encourage architecture students: ‘In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.’ So he urged students to always keep the passion they have at this moment alive. 校園消息 Campus News